Card
by Natsu-the-Salamander
Summary: "Well ... that's because you, my dear Lucy, is the one who holds my card"


_**Card**_

_By: Natsu-the-Salamander_

_Chapter 1: Meeting  
_

_She was running, crying her hearts out, as the rain poured down. Her head hung low, as her mind kept repeating the words said to her._

'_**Hey Lucy, Can you and Lisanna switch places?'**_

'_**You, taking solo missions can make you stronger'**_

'_**That's, what you wanted, right?'**_

_They think she's weak, they think she's just holding them back._

_She was just a replacement._

_She didn't give a damn to the people staring at her. They don't know the pain of being alone, the pain of being abandoned by your own friends. Even if they know, they won't understand._

_Honestly, she didn't know why she ran, her body acted on its own. _

_The next thing she knew, she tripped on a stray rock. She fell, on the muddy ground, face flat. _

_She fell but didn't care. She continued to cry until her dam ran out. All that's left out of her is her sobs, her eyes swollen and still stinging, also still quite blurry from the tears._

_She tried to get up to her feet, but she lacked of strength, so she only got herself to sit up. She continued to sob._

_She, then, lifted her head up and looked around. She was in the forest. She looked down at her body. She was soaking wet and, also, covered in mud. Looking around, again, she noticed that the rain had already stopped._

_It was quiet and it was dark._

_And, then, she heard a sigh._

_She turned around and saw nothing but a tree. She, finally, found her strength and got up to her feet. She tried to shrug it off, thinking it was just her imagination, but just then, she heard a rustle from a nearby tree._

_She spun and looked around, with haste. Almost instinctively, she brought her hand to her keys and the other to her whip. Sensing danger, she asked "Who's there?" her voice hoarse, from all her crying and sobbing._

_She looked around again, fear creeping in her body. Then, she heard a chuckle._

"_Up here" a voice called._

_She brought her head up to the tree in front of her and saw a silhouette of a man, sitting comfortably on the branch of the tree, not far above her._

"_Who are you?" She asked, again. She raised her guard, as she felt a great a amount of magic power emanating from him._

"_Relax, I won't bite. I'm a friend." The man said, assuring her. "Don't worry too much, 'Kay?" she, then, heard him chuckle._

"_Huh?"_

_By that the man jumped down from the branch and swiftly landed on the ground with such grace. Lucy was slightly taken aback, but retained her composure._

"_Who are you?" she hissed._

"_Relax, okay?" the man answered as he stepped back and brought his hands out defensively._

_Now that he was down, she could see his face clearly. He was clad in black. Black leather vest, black fingerless gloves, black dress pants and black shiny dress shoes. The only things not black in him is his crimson red scarf, his silver necklace with its matching circular pendant, his rosy red hair and his gorgeous grey eyes. All in all, she thinks he was HOT._

_She blushes but shrugs it off. How could she even think that? _

"_I-I said 'Who are you?'" she asked again trying to regain her composure._

"_Getting feisty, aren't we?" the man smirked, letting his hands drop to his sides "Well, missy I am known in many names . . . " He started ". . . but you can call me Luke" he finished with a wink._

_Feeling no sort of threat, she relaxed a bit but she still held her guard. _

"_So . . . now that I told you mine, what's yours?" he asked_

_She hesitated at first but, told him anyway. "Lucy"_

"_Lucy" he said "Lucy Heartphilia"_

_By that, Lucy visibly flinched. "H-how did you…?" _

'_I didn't even tell him my last name, so why …?' she thought._

"_I'll take that as a 'yes'" he said as he straightens himself and puts a serious face on. _

"_Is there something wrong?" he asked as he looked at her sternly._

'_Can I, even, trust this guy?' she thought._

"_By the looks of it, you've been crying" he continued, his voice straight._

_She looked away, her bangs covering her face. She, immediately, felt the feeling of despair, sadness, hurt and … anger flow in her._

"_If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay… I don't mind" she heard him say, followed by footsteps._

"_It's …" she, hesitantly, said._

"_Huh …" he said as he turned around, looking at her with a grim yet serious expression._

"_It's my … friends …" she trailed off, her voice slowly shaking. Luke's eyes, shortly, became wide. Several images of his past appeared in his mind._

"_T-they …" her voice began cracking. He looked at Lucy for a moment, his eyes showing pity, understanding and … hurt?_

_And as if reading her mind, he said …_

"_They abandoned you, right?"_

_Lucy abruptly shot her head up at him. "H-how …?"_

"_They left you 'because they think you're weak and replaced you. They left you without regrets. They didn't even look back, to see if you were okay." he said._

_Silence enveloped them. Lucy had a shocked yet, also, pained expression on her._

'_How did he know all of that?'_

"_I know how you feel, Lucy" he said "I know all about you, since the day you were born"_

"_W-what …!" she said, somewhat alarmed. "What do you mean?"_

"_You want to become stronger, right? You want to … prove them wrong, that you're not weak, right?" he said completely ignoring her question._

_Lucy just stared at him, flabbergasted. He just read her mind._

"_Well …?" he said waiting for her answer._

"_How did you know all of that about me? And, what do you mean? You know, about earlier …" she said, looking intently at him._

_He let out a soft chuckle. She narrowed her eyes, feeling a little irritated and somehow, offended._

"_Well … that's because you, my dear Lucy, is the one who holds my card"_


End file.
